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I am an avid Eldar Player, my first army of many years. I have recently started collecting a new Eldar Army, and invested in a new unit for me: Guardian Jetbikes!

What a fun core for an army. I played a few 500 pt test games against my marines to see how things went:

Farseer w Guide, Spear
Falcon w Shuriken Cannon
3 Jetbikes, Shuriken Cannon
3 Jetbikes, Shuriken Cannon
Viper, Missile Launcher, Jetbike
VIper, Missile Launcher, Jetbike

Against a rag tag Marine roster (which really sucked, I realized how hard it is to make a good 500 pt vanilla marine army with my models, I don't own Land Speeders)

Librarian, Avenger, Null Zone
5 Scouts w Sniper Rifles
5 Tactical Marines
5 Devastators, x4 ML
Whirlwind

And I proceeded to destroy my marines, with a spearhead/capture and control, and a pitched battle/killpoints. I think part of it was, I had a terrible force, but supreme mobility combined with lots of S6 + fire power was awesome. My army packed 5 Shuriken Cannons, a Pulse Laser and 2 EMLs, plus some twin linked catapults.

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So this got me thinking about Guardian Jetbikes as a core for an Eldar army. I've learned in the few battles I've played that they're scaredy cats (very likely to run away), decent shooting but unreliable (I had a Shuriken Cannon on a Jetbike wreck a Whirlwind first turn!), and very maneuverable. I love the sneaky 6" move in assault phase, very defensive.

Overall, they seem very hard to be offensive with, that role really seems to be for other Eldar units, like Falcons, fire prisms, aspect warriors, etc. Jetbikes seem best as a tactical unit, sniping small shots here or there, but mostly hanging back and winning you the game while other units do the dirty work. It seems very plausible to keep your Jetbike squads alive while waiting for the right turn to use them.

I am fully aware of the tactic of running a warlock with a spear and embolden to make them less of a scaredy-cat unit, and plan on it at higher points values. I will be running 1 or 2 squads of 6 Jetbikes with 2 Shuriken Cannons and the Warlock as my Troop Choices, along with a davu Falcon or 2.

I remember as a kid I hated them, and trashed 3 of them for an old Falcon's Engine upgrades. Oh, the arrogance of youth.

Thoughts?

Personally, I feel Jetbikes are too expensive and have too low a damage output to be used as the core of an army.

I agree with what you're saying about hanging back, hit & run and late turn objective grabbing, but I feel they should do this as an extension to the rest of your army, rather than the core.

Another bonus of the Warlock is that, particularly with a SS, he can help with anti-tank.

I like jetbikes. Their firepower is decent enough. Their speed is great. Survivability is so-so, easily reserved, but a couple bolter shots and bad rolls can end them quick.
I have been running a unit of 3 with a warlock to speed to the enemies backfield mid-game. Mainly to threaten small objective camping squads and dreads. If they can manage to flame some snipers or spear down a dread or artillery tank, then they were successful. I find the small squad doesn't scare many people since they know they only have to hit it with some small arms fire to get rid of it.

Jetbikes are great for turbo boosting into the middle of your enemies army and causing a distraction, whilst the rest of your army moves up relatively unhindered, but the amount of damage they can do is too low IMO to make up the core of an army. They work far better if you take advantage of the fact that they are extremely fast and are troops, really I rarely use them for anything else but stealing objectives on the last turn. If you do go ahead and use them in conjunction with a warlock, then they are a lot better at anti tank as they tend to go unnoticed in respect of the more obvious anti tank units such as fire dragons, however on their own IMO they're not worth it for their points.

I usually take jetbikes if I have spare points and want an extra troops choice. However, I am tempted to try a full jetbike army to see how it would work. Unfortunately, 22 points for a single jetbike is a bit expensive for my taste.

1 Jetbike is definitely better than 3 Guardians, for 24 pts. now, 2 Dire avengers ... maybe a fair tradeoff, for added speed and higher save.

The worst things Guardian Jetbikes have going for them are how unreliable they are at dishing out damage and surviving in the open - something that a Jetbike army would have to contend with. I can't see myself relying on Guardian Jetbikes to successfully attack multiple enemy units, that just simply isn't their role.

That would be sweet if there was a Pheonix lord for Singing Spears, to give Fearless to Jetbikes. But Warlocks & Farseers/Autarchs are useful enough I guess ...

Saim Hann Jetbike armies are certainly playable, and whle not the most competitive build, they can hold their own against many armies. The key is in underatanding how to build and run such a list, which in all honestly, is not like playing normal 40k. By running a Saim Hann list, you are intentionally, giving up the more powerful units (in terms of dmg output and survivability), in favor of using faster and more mobile ones. This means you have to learn how to win in the movement phase, raather than in the shooting and assault phase. This can be a great challenge.

You also have to build your jetbike units to survive. You must build for defense, as much as offense. This makes the optimal build for each jetbike squad as follows: 6 Jetbikes (2 with shuricans), plus a warlock (with spear and embolden). Offensively, you get 6x S6 shots, plus the Spear. Defensively, it takes 2 wounds to force a morale check, which Embolden lets you re-roll..

Also, since you cannot rely on Jetbikes for sheer killing power, you need to other fast units that can kill for them. The obvious choice is a Jetseer Council. The council brings solid killing power, combined with great survivability. Along with the Council, you will need an Autarch for his acces to reserves manipulation and a much needed power weapon/laser lance to help the council win CC against armoroed foes.

Vipers, on paper, look like a good match for a Jetbike army, and sometimes they can be useful. However, just like the Jetbikes, they bring very little killing power for their points, and they die horribly fast. Make sure you have a solid plan for using them properly and that they can be effective in your meta, prior to investing any points into Vipers. The points spent on Vipers are usualy better spent on HS choices, a Larger Jetseer Council, or simply more Jetbikes.

Finally, your longe range support should be as mobile as your bikes, since movement is your key to vicotory. You also need high STR for anti-tank, and blasts for anti infantry, making the optimal HS choice a combination of 3 grav-tanks: 2x Prisms, combined with either a Falcon or Spinner. The falcon is good at adding S8 firepower, as well a a place to tuck in a cheap additional scoring unit. However, I prefer the Spinner, since it slows down your opponent, making your army seem even faster in realtion.

In the end, Saim Hann is the epitome of a "water" army. Use your speed and maneuverability to bend with your opponents attacks, rather than confroting them head on. You will also find that judicious use of reserves (if you are going second) and properly tempered aggression, are the keys to making a Jetbike army work. Allow your HQ and HS units to do the heavy lifting, while popping tranports anf finishing off units with your jetbikes. You will have an uphill battle ahead of you, when utilizing a Jetbike army, however, mastering such an army is exhilerating, and the lessons that you learn from using a list that requires more subtlety than most will translate to your other armies easily, making you a more aware, flexible, and stronger general overall.

evildrspock wrote:Overall, they seem very hard to be offensive with

What? The heart of offense is the ability to focus your killing power. I can scarcely think of anything in the game (much less the eldar codex) that suits this aim better.

I've been beaten over the barrel by an all-bike eldar list before. The ability to focus fire all that shuricat and shuricannon fire into a single place is murder for hordes, which, after you MSM, are generally out of range of a proper counterattack. Meanwhile, a seer council with wychblades, shining spears, fire dragons in a falcon, etc. is likewise tough for vehicles, especially given the ease of concentration and ability to multicharge.

Meanwhile, fortune on a 3+ save is a beast, especially when you have a fortuned 4++ in the squad to absorb errant high-quality firepower, and fortuned 3+ cover from turboboosting is practically impossible to crack, and this is on a unit that is tougher than your average eldar thanks to the bikes.

Not to say that a jetbike army is the end-all-be-all, or that they don't require some serious skill guessing ranges to work successfully, but it's really easy to way underestimate what a jetbike list is capable of.

Ailaros wrote:

evildrspock wrote:Overall, they seem very hard to be offensive with

What? The heart of offense is the ability to focus your killing power. I can scarcely think of anything in the game (much less the eldar codex) that suits this aim better.

I've been beaten over the barrel by an all-bike eldar list before. The ability to focus fire all that shuricat and shuricannon fire into a single place is murder for hordes, which, after you MSM, are generally out of range of a proper counterattack. Meanwhile, a seer council with wychblades, shining spears, fire dragons in a falcon, etc. is likewise tough for vehicles, especially given the ease of concentration and ability to multicharge.

Meanwhile, fortune on a 3+ save is a beast, especially when you have a fortuned 4++ in the squad to absorb errant high-quality firepower, and fortuned 3+ cover from turboboosting is practically impossible to crack, and this is on a unit that is tougher than your average eldar thanks to the bikes.

Not to say that a jetbike army is the end-all-be-all, or that they don't require some serious skill guessing ranges to work successfully, but it's really easy to way underestimate what a jetbike list is capable of.

My reply on a squad was based from seeing what small squads can do in my battle tests vs Space Marines. I concede I wasn't considering the best way to use the models, by focusing multiple units on one. I can fully see and support the effectiveness of 1 or 2 seven man squads with a warlock and two shuriken cannons focusing on a Doomed unit (as Eldar should rightly do) as being devastating, but they are like most Eldar in that respect; they rely on the rest of the army to be effective.

That has to be the single greatest advantage of an Eldar Jetbike Army; using your mobility to focus on and destroy individual units. With the right design, Eldar can do this with grace and style.